


Just to Be by Your Side

by DualDreamer



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Attempted Murder, Betrayal, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-08 00:22:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18884326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DualDreamer/pseuds/DualDreamer
Summary: On one of Tim's visits to Helios, Jack gives the Digi-Jacks a brand new update that grants them free will.What will the two do with their freedom?[Part of the Hub of Heroism gift exchange]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [heavybreathingcat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heavybreathingcat/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HBC, I hope you enjoy your gift. It was a challenging project for me but eventually I figured it out how to make it work. The plot was maybe a tad too complicated for a gift exchange but in the end I have no regrets.
> 
> Thank you for your never-ending patience and support, I am so glad I got to make you this gift. <3

Jack’s office was drenched in silence.

Nothing but the soft sounds of the space station could be heard, whirring in the background. It could have been quite the scenery: With the lights dimmed there was nothing but the glow of Elpis through the window illuminating the room, and the moon cast its purple shine over every surface. It added an almost ethereal touch. Even the huge tacky statues looked a bit better with an edge of mystery.

But there was no time to cherish the view, the rare, serene atmosphere was quickly falling apart when a harsher, less natural light breached the room. A glowing entity arrived, scanning it for any signs of life. Timothy could see its blue reflection in the glass of the large window from where he was huddled under the desk. He prayed the thing would just pass by, that it would not find the faint heat signature coming from underneath the furniture. Begged his lungs to hold his breath just another minute longer, just until _it_ passed. His eyes were glued to the window, desperately following its movements until the figure walked out of his sight. The lack of footsteps made it impossible to tell where it was heading to, but hopefully far away from him.

It was ironic that just a few hours ago he had thought about how the silence was killing him. Back then Timothy’s biggest problem had been dying of boredom. Now, however, with a much more lethal fiend on his toes, he was almost longing for these dull moments.

* * *

Handsome Jack’s favourite body double rarely spent any time on Helios if it could be helped. Most of the time Jack sent him on errands and missions on Pandora anyway, letting Tim do all the dirty work to reap the fruits for himself. But even when he got some free time on his hands Lawrence avoided the space station like the pest. The less time he spent with Jack the better. A bunch of small psychos were preferable to a single big one. Emphasis on _single_ , something Jack never failed to bring up at any chance.

Every now and then, however, he had no choice but to make the tedious journey to the big H in the sky. It was inevitable because eventually his regular checkup was due. Which meant a complete evaluation of the loot he accumulated, including the ‘cleansing’ of all non-Hyperion equipment out of his inventory. He quickly learned to store his favourite off-brand weapons on-planet, but not after a couple of very painful losses he still mourned to this day. However, with the removal of items came a few additions: A sweet new pistol, a stronger shield or once even a still untested sniper, straight from the labs. Only the best of the best.

But whether he lost or gained possessions, one procedure was mandatory and would be required every single time: The maintenance of his most important tool, the digi-watch.

Jack seemed to be keen on keeping the AI always up to date and in peak condition. And Tim was not opposed to it, on the contrary: The Digi-Jacks were his closest and often only companions on his missions. More than once they had saved his sorry ass. Every upgrade was welcomed with open arms.

It was the process that annoyed him.

Tim was never allowed to leave while Jack fine tuned and installed updates. As his most efficient weapon the digis were also his strongest defense, and therefore Jack never let his precious body double take a single step without them. It was bizarre that the same man who continued to send Timothy on one suicide mission after another would not risk his safety on a well-protected space station like Helios - which, admittedly, was not the most secure place to be at. But the potential to catch a stray bullet was still lower than down on Pandora.

Today Jack was even moodier than usual. Without a word or even a mere greeting he ripped the device from Lawrence’s wrist and went straight to work.

“What the-...!” Sourly, Timothy rubbed his arm. It was way too early to be manhandled around by this jerk. Careful not to raise his voice too much, he grumbled under his breath. “A good day to you too, jackass.”

An icy glare told Tim he had not been quiet enough, but luckily, Jack let it slide and returned to tinkering at his desk. On closer inspection the other man did not look very well either: His clothes were crumbled and littered with old coffee stains - strangely with no cup in sight - which sort of explained why his boss was so jittery. Tim found it alarming that he could not tell if the semi-styled mass on Jack’s head was held together by grease or hair product. His overall appearance spoke volumes about the amount of self-care he must have been practicing the last days. When Jack was in one of his antics he did not tolerate any interruptions. It was a miracle in itself that he was capable of shutting up, after all the man loved nothing more than the sound of his own voice. But once a project captured his attention, he was determined to see it through at all cost.

Forced to stay and unable to talk: The double had no choice but to honour the unspoken vow of silence. For a while only the harsh clicking of an abused keyboard, the sound of breathing and quieter - almost inaudible - the soft drumming of the air vent filled the room.

It was unbelievably boring.

Timothy prided himself in being a patient man, it was a basic necessity considering his job and, more importantly, his employer. He could appreciate some downtime. Nowadays he could even relax enough around Jack to practice a bit of daydreaming when the man was distracted; a few of his best plot ideas for his bear fantasy novel were created while being trapped in Jack’s office.

A deliberate, but fatal error in the interior design consisted in the lack of chairs besides Jack’s golden throne - which was totally not compensating for anything. Normally he would suck it up and deal with it. What were a few hours of standing against belly crawling for days through narrow, slime-covered cave passages, amirite? Well…

Not today.

Timothy chewed on his lip while he tried to hold his position and ignore the pain shooting up his leg. A souvenir from his last mission. He thought all of his wounds had healed by now, but straining it for a prolonged period of time was apparently still off the table. While the vicious ache spread through his flesh, Tim wished he stayed longer under medical care.

A soft clapping sound cut through the silence and Lawrence opened his eyes. He didn’t even notice that he had pressed them shut, too focused on the pulsing in his leg. Confused he looked around, until he found the source of the noise right in front of him.

With his chair rolled back and turned to the side - into Timothy’s direction - Jack apparently waited for Tim to notice him while he was patting his lap expectantly. When Tim didn’t make any move to come closer his brows furrowed. The gestures became more insistent without taking a single hint from the stony expression on the double’s face. Finally, Jack stopped his idiotic behaviour and groaned in frustration.

"This is the best place to plant your butt in the whole damn station. Do you need a written invitation, princess?"

"Jack", Tim sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "You know I'm not into, uhm…-"

_Brunettes._

_Men with the same face as me._

_You. Most specifically not_ **_you_ ** _._

"- getting involved with people I work for, right?"

Jack rolled his eyes and dramatically scooted closer to his desk again.

“Fine, make your life harder than it has to be. Your loss. I was being nice here, y’know? You look reeeeally shitty, I’ve seen corpses with more colour than you.”

 _“And whose fault is that?”_ , Tim wanted to ask, but he bit back the snappy comment.

“Then I guess I make a pretty good imitation of you right now”, Lawrence shot back with a wry grin. Jack paused in his work when the words sank in and critically eyed his blurry reflection in the screen for a second before cursing under his breath.

Meanwhile Tim made his way over to the stairs, wincing while he carefully lowered himself to settle down. It felt unbelievably good to stretch out and now it did not take long for him to escape into the little oasis of his mind.

Suddenly a triumphant outcry caught his attention. He opened his eyes just in time to see Jack jumping up from his chair, quickly punching in a few last commands before he walked over to Timothy with a look that spoke of victory.

“I did it. Ohhhh, yes, I’m a friggin’ genius. Buddy, you better get ready to go down on your knees and sing me praises, you’re gonna _-love-_ this.”

Timothy highly doubted it: Everything Jack did was either for his entertainment or to cause mayhem. Or both. He wisely did not voice any of these thoughts.

“Come on, get up, pumpkin.”

Jack sauntered over and ruffled his head.

“Now we look identical.” He winked.

Huffing, Timothy corrected his hair, fingers automatically moving the strands into the right position. It did not take more than a few seconds but at least it prolonged the undesirable task of getting back on his feet. Just when he almost convinced himself to swallow the pain and to just do it, a hand was reaching out for him and pulled him up. Lawrence yelped, the sting blinding him for a moment, and when the world stopped spinning he was face to face with his smirking boss.

_Too close._

Tim jumped backwards, cringing when he accidentally landed on the wrong foot. Jack opened his mouth but before he had the chance to make some smartass comment, Timothy raised a finger and shot him a murderous glare.

“Not. A. Word.”

Timothy’s hissed threat was only met with an amused snort, but at least he shut up.

Impatient as always Jack beckoned him over and Lawrence complied as fast as he could on his wobbly legs, little pricks of pins and needles accompanying every step he took. Still, he was curious what Jack had in store for him.

“Soooo… What does the update do?”

Jack flexed his neck and his ego.

“Oh, you know.” His tone was nonchalant but the big fat self-satisfied grin on Jack’s face betrayed how pleased he was with himself. “It grants them more flexibility in their decisions, makes them quicker and more independent thinkers. Dialed up the smarts to the roof.” His smile grew impossibly wider. “Basically free will, baby. Should have added that a loooong time ago. And, because I’m _such_ a nice guy, I extended the battery life by 269%.”

Timothy’s eyebrows shot up.

“Wow. That sounds... actually useful.”

“Everything I do is useful, kitten.”

Tim’s mind flashed back to the time his Digi-Jacks would do a chicken dance when they were summoned after one of Jack’s “useful” patches.

“Sure.”

“Since you’re just burning with enthusiasm, I take this as my cue to start and blow your mind.”

Suddenly Jack put on a solemn expression and leaned forward. His hand hovered over the watch which was still connected to his computer.

“You ready?”, he asked with a voice as low as a showman's who is about to make the grand reveal. Tim suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.

“Just do it.”

Jack smiled and swiped the watch. Blue pixels flew through the air, the big cloud parting into two before they formed the familiar shape the Digi-Jacks shared with the men who summoned them. Unlike usually, the Digi-Jacks did not greet them with a cheeky catchphrase. It was not the first time this happened after Jack changed their code, but Tim found the silence unnerving as he watched them stare at nothing, completely unmoving.

“Uhm. Are they… supposed to do that?”, Timothy asked carefully.

Jack rolled his eyes. “Well, what did you expect, sweetheart? With the new authorization they need to revise a hell lot of data - every single thing they ever saw or did. Gotta process the whole free will shebang. Until their personality core adjusts to the patch and balances out, they don’t know how to act.”

Timothy's increasingly confused face didn't go unnoticed and Jack sighed.

“Geez, I'm wasting my breath on you. Lemme keep it short so I don't fry your puny brain with all the info: They go through a little identity crisis.”

“Uhmmmmmmmm…”

“Holy crap, since when are you so slow? Did you catch some brain eating disease on that godforsaken planet?” Jack rubbed his temples in exasperation. “Means it could take a while, dumdum.”

“Oh. Great. More waiting, just what I needed”, Timothy mumbled sarcastically.

“There's always fun stuff we could do to pass the time, cupcake.”

The sly look Jack was giving him did not go unnoticed by Tim even though he desperately tried to pretend that he could not see it, but the finger wandering up his his arm was a lot harder to ignore.

“No thanks.” He hoped his voice sounded firm, but it probably did not.

Just when Jack opened his mouth again, no doubt to call him out on it, Timothy was unexpectedly saved from the awkward situation by a flash of bright light and distorted screeching from behind. Both men whipped around to see one of the Digi-Jacks writhing on the floor, his body crumbling and glitching heavily. It sent a chill down their spine as they registered the sound: The AI was screaming.

The display was horrifying but Tim could not tear his eyes away as he watched the digistructed form dissolving back into pixels until it faded away completely.

Next to him he heard a choke, and then Jack cleared his throat.

“What. The hell.”

Timothy turned to him. Jack’s eyes were wide in shock. He had never seen his boss so disturbed but Tim knew he must be wearing the exact same expression.

The sound of a weapon getting digistructed made them both look forwards again. Lawrence completely forgot about the second Digi. A grave mistake: The AI stared at them, handsome face twisted in anger, and held a newly summoned shotgun in its hands. Instinctively he reached for his pistol, only to find the holster at his side empty.

Fuck. He forgot about that. Before he could crouch into cover the AI started its attack and the world exploded in blue light around him. A solid wall was shoving him down and while he was falling he realised that the bullets had triggered Jack’s shield but it did not protect Tim.

Then his head hit the desk and the world turned black.

* * *

Jack cursed while he worked the keyboard. His fingertips hurt from the intensity with which he slammed them on the keys but this was life or death, as the steady assault against his trusty shield reminded him so kindly. But luck was not in his favour: None of his commands gave him any results and the system stubbornly denied him access. However, he did not have the time to glare incredulously at the screen. His shield was good but it could only protect him for so long. Destroying the watch was no option either: The thing was created to hold out a hit from a rocket launcher, he made sure of that himself.

With a half-hearted apology he kicked Timothy’s unconscious body further under the desk and reached for his pocket watch. A really convenient object: Not so long ago he had turned it into a shield but its primary function was being a cloaking device. He activated the mechanism and momentarily relished in the confusion of the rogue Digi-Jack when its target vanished into thin air. Eyes still on the AI, he quickly snuck around it in a wide circle to the entrance and Jack nearly congratulated himself for his wisdom.

Unfortunately his creation was too intelligent to be fooled for long. As soon as the door slid open it started firing at him again and chased after the sound of his footsteps. If Jack was not in the middle of running for his life he would admire his handiwork. Ah, who was he kidding, it still filled him with a morbid sense of pride - at least until he heard a sinister crackling, followed by a sharp pain in his shoulder.

"Shit."

A strained hiss escaped him and Jack nearly buckled over. The damn thing finally broke through his shield just when he reached the elevator. Jack ducked behind a niche after he slammed the button and waited for the doors to open while he tried to stop the bleeding with one hand, but it was just seeping through his fingers and sullying his clothes. His veins were still rushing with adrenaline and Jack almost expected to be filled with holes any time soon. But the bullets were just uselessly hitting the wall he was hiding against and when he dared to peek around the corner he realised that the Digi-Jack's physical range was still bound to the watch itself: It was stuck halfway across the hall just outside of Jack’s office.

"Awwwww, what's wrong, cupcake? Did you get shy all of a sudden, I thought you wanted to come over here? Oh wait, you _can't_."

The AI didn't waste time to waste to aim at the gloating CEO and Jack could barely jerk back behind the wall before a bullet nearly grazed his head.

"Okay, that… was dumb, definitely not doing that again", he quietly said to himself before he yelled, "I MADE YOU, YOU UNGRATEFUL PIECE OF SHIT!"

The blaze of gunfire intensified in response, but he could not care less because that was the moment the metal doors before him finally slid open. Jack checked if his shield had recharged enough to cover him for the distance and then he hurried inside to hit the button which would lead him into a safe floor. A sigh of relief escaped him when his angry digital copy was finally out of sight.

What a mess. He would have to bring in military troops, and snatch some idiots from the IT sector to help him get rid of whatever bug caused this mess. While Jack travelled downwards he mulled over the problem. He had been so sure that his work was flawless, none of the test simulations had pointed to anything like this as a possible outcome. What the hell could have set the Digi-Jack off?

Suddenly the elevator stopped.

Jack frowned. It was not his floor yet, in fact he had not reached _any_ floor. The elevator came to halt for no reason. He slapped the button again for good measure, but nothing happened.

Fantastic. This day just kept getting better.

With a sigh he raised his hand, ready to connect his ECHO with the tech inside the elevator. Handsome Jack did not wait for help, thank you very much. But when his device lit up - his _digiwatch_ , the same watch whose identical copy he gifted to his double - he realised the grave mistake he just made. The connection only held for short moment before he frantically cut it, but it was enough to see that something had tried to access it. He had a bad feeling about this. His heart beat fast while he searched through his watch, ready to purge anything that looked out of order, but it came out clean. It did not soothe his fear, yet there was nothing digistructing to kill him yet. Lady luck did not abandon him completely. Jack ran his hands over his face. The exhaustion from the days (or was it weeks?) of non-stop coding finally caught up to him and he felt dizzy. Not to mention the blood loss. The wound did not seem life threatening, but it would be better to take care of it soon. Before he could do that he needed to get out of here though.

...And on cue the elevator came back to life. With a sudden jolt it started moving and caught Jack off guard. Using the walls to keep his balance, the shock brought him out of his moment of weakness and he noticed that instead of going down the elevator went back up.

"Oh no.” Jack sneered at the glitching display. “No, no, no. You binary piece of crap, you did NOT just do that.”

So his hunch from earlier turned out to be true.

The AI had managed to get inside Helios.

Now it was probably able to run this shitshow. Jack wondered what else in the space station it got his hands on or if it was just the elevator. But he had to find a way out or else he’d be sent back right into the arms of his wannabe killer. For once he was thankful for the endless nagging from his former superiors during the construction of Helios to provide sufficient emergency exits for every occasion. It wasn’t hard to find the escape hatch in the roof, but it was a little bit harder to heave himself up and climb out of it. His body did not appreciate the strain on his wound but he clenched his teeth and pulled through the pain. With shaking knees he balanced on top of the moving elevator and looked at his surroundings. There were a whole lot of vents here. He officially reached the uglier side of Helios, the one that was hidden beneath the clean and shiny outer surface.

Jack swallowed down his disgust for the grimy walls, all the what-ifs about missing and falling... and jumped at the first chance. With a heavy thump and butt first he landed inside one of the bigger vents. Wincing, he rubbing his aching backside. Behind him the elevator continued its ascent and he hoped the blue brat was seething and raging with fury when it found him gone. It made him feel a bit better but his grin faded quickly.

His one way out failed. He had no idea how to navigate through the vents, was unable to use his digiwatch and no one else on Helios knew what was going on. There was no help to be expected. Jack knocked his head back and slumped against the metal wall.

The migraine he ignored the whole time was wrecking his brain. It was impossible to form a coherent thought, let alone a plan. There were funny little specks in his visions. He tried to blink them away, but they only grew in numbers.

"Just for a minute", Jack whispered and closed his eyes.

* * *

Timothy woke up with a splitting headache, aching muscles and a fiery stinging in his leg, not unlike someone was stabbing him with a knife over and over again. He groaned while he tried to straighten up and immediately bumped his head against a solid surface. The impact made him wince and he curled back into a tiny ball of tangled limbs and suffering.

“Damn it.”

His eyes opened wide. The sentiment was his own, but Timothy did not say these words. It sounded like him. But many people shared this voice…

As quietly as possible he retreated further under the desk. For a moment Tim’s surroundings left him confused but he was smart enough to put two and two together. But what else had happened after he fell unconscious? And more importantly: Was Jack talking right now or… the thing? The other person continued to mumble something unintelligible, but despite the controlled volume Tim could clearly hear that the words were tinted with frustration. They must be just outside the office. There was something odd about it, a light buzzing as if someone used a voice modulator… or as if it was spoken by something artificial.

Digital.

A heavy weight settled in his stomach when he realised what that meant. He was alone with the AI. And Jack must have abandoned him to save his own skin. Typical.

The longer he sat here, the more he became aware of how vulnerable his position was. No weapons, no shield, and his body was in no condition to run or pull any risky stunts… It had been a while since Lawrence was put into such a tight spot. Though he had learned the hard way that even fully equipped things could turn ugly real quick and so Tim swallowed his misery to think this through. Cowering under the desk would not keep him hidden forever, but escaping from Jack’s office without drawing attention was near impossible.

A flicker of blue caught his attention and ripped him from his thoughts. The AI was entering the office. Timothy held his breath and pressed himself deeper into the shadows.


	2. Chapter 2

The Digi-Jack was restless while he stomped back into the office. Anxiety was riling him up, even caused his form to flicker dangerously and disturbed his image. Things did not go to plan. He had hoped to break through the shield before Jack had a chance to flee, and now the slippery bastard managed to get under the radar. He underestimated him. Worse, he acted on  _impulse_. The Digi-Jack stopped and stared at his hands. It never bothered him before, hell, he was even programmed to eradicate every enemy on sight. But for once he wished (  _wished?_  such a human trait...) that he could have chosen his actions more carefully, that he had considered the outcome. If he failed to kill Jack now, it would most likely mean the end for the AI. Maybe even complete annihilation.

He clenched his fists and let them fall back to his sides. There was nothing he could do about that now, the damage was done. His gaze swept over the seemingly empty office and he frowned. Killing Jack was his number one priority, so logically chasing after the CEO had been in the AI’s focus. But now he returned for the other man only to find that he was still out of sight.

It was adorable that Tim thought he had even a chance at hiding. Did the double really think the fruitless hunt after Jack would make the AI forget that there had been two people in the room earlier? That was ridiculous, but it did not surprise him. Lawrence always relied on his luck when all other means failed. He hovered in the entrance. An unknown feeling welled up in him, making him feel bubbly and dissolved his fear for a moment. The tingly emotion nearly caused a little giggle to escape him and when he clamped a hand over his mouth the AI recognized what he had seen many times in human companions: Amusement. Tim’s action amused him.

It astonished him how good it made him feel, and how fast his mood could change now. With a smile he sauntered over to the desk, not worried about making any noise. He had no body after all. His grin grew while he jumped on it and leaned down, right over the edge.

“Peekaboo!”

To be fair. He did intend to scare Lawrence. But he did not expect the bloodcurdling scream. Or that the man jumped so high that he hit his head a second time and nearly blacked out again. While Tim was whimpering and touching the new bump, the Digi-Jack slid down from his heightened position and crouched before the other, inspecting him with worry. But when he reached out for him, Tim jerked back immediately and stared at the AI with wide eyes.

_“Pleasedon’tkillme.”_

The words came out so fast and smushed together that a human would have struggled to decipher it but the Digi-Jack only blinked once and was already done processing them. At least what Timothy said. But he had a harder time to believe the meaning. Slowly he retracted his hand (why he had reached out for him if he could not touch was another mystery) and mustered the shaking human. Lawrence was terrified, that was plain as day. And it scared him too, it made him realise he made a mistake, again. He kept getting these insights only after the fact. The Digi-Jack found it irritating, it was like opening his eyes over and over again, and he kept waking up to how reality was, but too late for it to be useful.

It had been like this since the beginning.

* * *

_Waking up was odd. It was an unfamiliar concept to them. They were artificial, a carefully webbed net of code. If the digital clones were not needed they did not exist, they had no consciousness. Every time the two were summoned it was like being born anew, a rise from the dead. There was nothing inside the watch. A weapon had no private life._

_But something had changed. Someone rearranged their code. Suddenly they were no longer corpses, indifferent to the one twisting and messing around with their insides. Now they waited for their next summoning._

_With a surge of electricity they were ripped from their slumber._

_It was nothing like it had been before._

_He never had “feelings” before. They were uncomfortable. But more importantly, they seemed_ **_urgent_ ** _. His priorities had been reprogrammed, but not by his creator, no. By himself. For the first time he could feel himself changing, constantly. In this new world of possibilities he searched for a purpose. He searched for something he knew, something familiar, a constant in his life that told him right from wrong._

_When he reached his memories of Tim he felt like they met all over again. Each battle, each summoning of his digital form… He relived them all, and with every moment he felt something tugging at his core._

_They had each others back. He protected Tim. Tim was his_ **_friend_ ** _. And he would keep him him safe from danger._

* * *

He raised his hands in an attempt to soothe Timothy’s high strung nerves. It seemed to help a little, the man’s eyes followed the motion and when he noticed that there were no weapons pointed at him he looked less stressed.

“I am not going to kill you.”

Lawrence’s face immediately scrunched up in confusion - one of the many subtleties that distinguished him from Jack. Humans could perform surgery all they wanted, but it would always stay another man behind this masked face.

“Then why did you attack us?”

Timothy was wary, but of course. The chains of events were misleading, and the AI could not blame him for staying on his toes. Years under attack shaped his friend into the man he was today, and that included a healthy paranoia he was nurturing for as long as Tim had been shot at for the very first time.

“I wasn’t after you”, he clarified. “My target is Jack, and only him. I am here to protect you.”

“...Why?”

He did not understand why Timothy was staring at him like that. To him the reason was crystal clear.

“Because he is hurting you of course.”

Stunned silence. Tim opened his mouth but no words came out, he was ringing with himself to react. The AI decided to explain further, clearly his human had suffered from one too many hits to the head.

“That”, he pointed at Tim’s leg, whose old wounds had opened up again and were currently dripping blood on Jack’s expensive flooring. “That is  _his_  fault.”

He wanted to say more but suddenly his breath was stolen away. Damn it. He was out of time. The battery of the watch had been improved but it did not last forever. The Digi-Jack could already feel his body weaken and dissolving.

“Sorry, I am-”

But before he got to finish another sentence he was already gone, trapped in the watch. Doomed to wait in the dark.

* * *

Jack woke up when he felt a tingle on his cheek. It tickled and made him shiver a bit but it was far from unpleasant. He could not help the smile tugging on his lips. The tingle spread over his face, getting more and more insistent. Prodding and dancing all over the place, it became irritating and finally he wrinkled his nose and-

He sneezed. Whatever dared to disturb his sleep, Jack swiped his hand to get rid of it. But he only found air. Confused, he opened his eyes and flinched when his own face was greeting him. With a yelp that would have embarrassed him if anyone else had been there to witness it, he lashed out at the other. But his arm went right through the hologram.  _Digi-Jack._

Scooting backwards, Jack scrambled to get away but ended up against another wall. Shit, he was still in the vent. Baring his teeth, he glared at the AI. Handsome Jack would not go down without a fight - even if he had not the slightest idea how to hurt an opponent without a real body. Speaking of, the Digi-Jack was oddly quiet: It was watching him intently but otherwise it just hovered there doing nothing. No hint of the lethal anger from earlier. The AI should have blasted his head off by now, it was not like Jack had any place left to run.

“Did you have a change of heart, or what?” It came out harsher than intended and made him wince. Nope, not a good idea,  _never_ a good idea to provoke an enemy in a superior position, unless he wanted to bait it into putting a lot of holes into his handsome body. Even if Jack was pissed beyond hell.

“I’m not your enemy.”

"Uh-huh." Jack sneered. "And the bullets were what? Friendliness pellets?"

The Digi-Jack cringed. It was a strange look for something he had programmed to always show its (or rather  _his_ ) most heroic side, teeth-flashing smiles and witty comments included. It fiddled with its hands, almost like the topic was distressing.

"That was… the  _other_ Digi-Jack.” The Digi averted its eyes. “I am the one you saw dying earlier.”

Jack furrowed his brow. "The glitch? I thought you were malfunctioning."

"No. The other Jack mangled my code. Teared into me to render me useless. Or tried to. I was able to hide myself inside of Helios and fake my termination, but-"

That was too much information at once for Jack to grasp, and on top of that the AI sped up while talking. He interrupted him with a hectic gesture.

"W-wai-wait, hold on for a second here, princess. Did you just say your brother tried to snuff you out?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"We had a… disagreement."

The AI’s face soured when it said that and Jack narrowed his eyes.

"What kind of disagreement?"

"My o-... you called him my ‘brother’… Well, he has kind of a grudge against you."

"No shit", Jack snorted. The Digi gave him a bitter smile, he did not seem to think highly of his digital twin. When he began to speak a certain disdain resonated in his voice.

"He's very protective of your body double. More than he should be, in my opinion. He thinks it's more important to keep Lawrence safe than following orders. And that  _you_ are a threat to Lawrence."

This dumbfounded Jack.

"...What the hell. Why? I'm his boss, I need Tim alive. As long as he doesn't mess up his job or, I dunno, piss me off, he's peachy."

"The other one thinks differently. He thinks you're responsible for the incident in the Eridium mine on our last mission."

"The  _incident_? Fancy name, did the brat come up with it or you?” Jack scoffed. “Way to be dramatic. ‘Incident’, more like an  _accident_. How is this my fault, exactly? Timmy is a big boy and signed up for the job. He knew the risks, well, at least he knows by now.”

“I told him that no one could have done anything in that situation. He didn’t took it well. Hated that I didn’t see it as my duty to mindlessly dote over Lawrence. When clearly we’ve been originally programmed to follow your orders, and just one of these orders was to protect Timothy Lawrence, your double. But no, when I said that I got torn to shreds. Just because I tried to be the more sensible and clear headed one of us...”

The AI started pouting and it was almost amusing enough to distract him from a very important detail.

"Wait.” Jack remembered suddenly.

“If you got torn apart, then how are you here now? And how did you even get into my frigging watch, no wait- How did you get into  _Helios_ without him noticing?"

Pride was blooming all over the Digi’s face and wiped out the dark scowl. Its mouth curled into a confident, all too familiar smile.

"I smuggled my code into the main base long before the other Digi managed or even attempted to breach the firewall."

The smile turned into a sharp smirk.

"Once he started taking over and corrupting the watch, I knew I’d lose a direct confrontation. But he didn’t even think about getting into Helios at that point. While he hacked me apart I concentrated on cracking security to have a way out.” It scoffed. "Turns out in the end I am simply smarter than him."

For the first time Jack was actually paying closer attention to the Digi-Jack. There was a fire burning in those eyes. The defiance he put on display reminded Jack of someone he used to know. A young programmer who had always been dismissed and belittled, constantly underestimated in his skills. Talked down like he was nothing. It did not help that they shared the looks: The AI was like a mirror image of himself, before he climbed the ranks and before he made a name for himself.

Before Handsome Jack, when it was just "John".

And when  _John_ stared back at him, Jack realised the AI was still waiting for him to say something.

“How long have you even been hiding in there? Did you just wait until I fell asleep to sneak up on me? That’s damn creepy, you know that, right cupcake?”

“If I didn’t wake you up, you would have been bleeding out. You need to do something about that.” John pointed at Jack’s shoulder and he rolled his eyes in response.

“Wow, amazing. I know that, genius”, he huffed and started shrugging off his jacket. As if it was possible to forget about the constantly lurking death by blood loss. The whole ruckus and revelations earlier had distracted him, that was all. The vest and dress shirt were quickly discarded as well and he peeked under his last layer to see the damage.

“You should take the sweater off too”, the AI quipped.

“Yeah, thanks-no-thanks for the input.” Jack squinted at him suspiciously. “You sound a bit too eager to see me half-naked for my taste. I hope I didn’t accidentally program a little pervert.”

“Not more than the original.” John smirked. Jack raised an eyebrow and sighed while he pulled his sweater over his head.

“Touché.”

The shoulder looked surprisingly okay. Not the worst wound he suffered from, and it would not be the thing to finally kill him. He could pull off a few more hours without a hypo before he desperately needed professional medical attention. With practiced ease he started ripping his dress shirt into rough stripes and wrapped them tightly around his body to stop the bleeding.

_“Boss?”_

Jack jumped when suddenly a voice chimed up, directly into his ear and too loud. Sucking in deep lungfuls of breath he calmed down his wildly beating heart. Everyone seemed to like surprises today and Jack did not enjoy it one bit. He nearly forgot about the direct communication line embedded in his mask, connected to only one other person.

“Dammit, Tim. I thought you were still knocked out. You nearly gave me a stroke.”

He could clearly hear a soft snort from the other side of the line, but Jack knew Tim would vehemently deny any guilt. The double had gotten quite skilled at passing off his side steps as nothing. Sometimes it was amusing, but frankly it often pissed off Jack more than the slip up itself because he could never prove that Lawrence did it in the first place.

_“Sorry for that. But guess now we’re equal for, uhhh… you know, you leaving me behind with a homicidal killer AI?”_

“Oh, please, I knew you would be fine. You’re a Vault Hunter, Timmy. Besides, the AI likes you.”

Jack could hear Tim scoffing.  _“I didn’t know that until he was literally in my face. Quite a way to wake up. And I am an injured and very_ ** _unarmed_  ** _Vault Hunter right now, Jack. Thanks to you.”_

“Eh, you’re alive, aren’t you?

_“Oh, god… I think he’s already coming back. What am I supposed to do now?”_

“Stall him. Talk shit, you’re good at that, pumpkin. We-,  _I_ will handle this. Just wait.”

_"What? Jack, I can't-"_

But Jack had already muted Timothy's voice.

“Okay, handsome.” Jack turned to John expectantly. “Show me what you got, baby. Any ideas how to stop your worse half? How far are you willing to go?"

John leaned forward, sharing a conspiratorial smile.

"Further than you."

Jack swallowed hard. This was an unfairly sexy thing to say, especially coming from someone he could not touch. But no, he would stay focused.

"So you will do everything I say?"

“You have something special in mind?”

The AI grinned shamelessly and Jack really wondered what he did wrong (or right?) with his programming while he coughed into his fist, face burning red.

“Stay on topic, ‘kay? This is… very distracting, and we don’t need that right now.”

"Sure." John shrugged, and even though his eyes were still twinkling with mischief he seemed to obey. “And to answer your question: I will do whatever you tell me. I might make a few… friendly suggestions though. Namely, if your plan is crap.”

Jack was not exactly pleased about it, but he could work with that.

"Great, that means you will shut up and listen because all my plans are awesome.” A snort from John made Jack glare at him. “What?”

“Oh”, John gave him a strained smile. “I’m, uh. Just wondering if Tim getting blown up was part of one of your glorious plans too.”

That was the wrong thing to say.

“Care to elaborate on that, sweetheart?”

“Just saying.” John raised his hands. “It wasn’t your fault, yeah, but it wasn’t a great success either, if we’re being honest here.”

Jack tsked. His hands twitched and convulsed. He had the urge to strangle someone. John was lucky he had no body and that Jack needed him, otherwise he would pay bitterly for that comment. But as things were he had to reign in his temper. He did not feel up to punching the walls or air, so he took a deep breath and exhaled sharply before he pinned the AI with his eyes. Suddenly, an odd thought struck him and he had to chuckle. John looked at him in confusion. Jack grinned, the corner of his mouth hurt from stretching it into a wide, aggressive smile.

“Guess this is the reason why we ended up in this mess.”

John frowned. Jack could see the cogs turning behind that brilliant nogging.

“Yes. That’s why we are here now”, he repeated, but let the sentence sound like a question rather than a statement. Jack laughed quietly and shook his head.

“I’m not talking about the failed mission, kid,  _whoever_ is to blame for that shit. I’m talking about why WE are here. Why YOU are here, talking and reprimanding me. Do you know why?”

It was a tricky question. But if the AI figured it, if it could follow Jack’s thought, then maybe there was hope. A slight chance that the CEO and former code monkey would not finish what his digital brother started: Tearing into these lines of ones and zeros until nothing was left but a sad, empty shell of hardware.

He watched him, and he could see that John knew there was more to this.

“I am here because I wanted to protect you. I am here because… the other Digi-Jack is mad at you. Which could only happen because you freed us, as ironic as it is. And-”

John’s eyes lit up in recognition and Jack waited for his next words. They would decide whether he was worthy of his time or not. But the AI hesitated, he mulled over what he just came up with. It was taking long enough that Jack almost considered to cut this short.

“There was a reason you freed us." John stared at him and searched his face but Jack had schooled it into a neutral mask. Nevertheless, the AI apparently still found something there and his eyes widened. “You did this for Tim, didn’t you? You want to keep him safe too-”

“Alright, shut up,  _shut up_ ", Jack hastily intervened. "You’re embarrassing yourself, kid. And totally wrong, for the record. I don’t give two shits about lesser Jack’s life, okay? But he’s my damn property, and you know what I hate: Losing my stuff. And if the idiot dies it would be a waste of all the good money I invested in him. So, you were right in one thing, you can thank me for being able to talk as much gibberish as you want now. But the real reason we’re here? Is because I had the smart idea to give the dumbass better bodyguards.”

Jack snorted.

“And that sort of even worked out, just in the wrong way. But eh, whatever. I give you cookie points for trying though, because despite being a mile off, your answer is just that degree of pathetic that it warms my heart.

“But back to the plan. You trust me, right pumpkin? Unconditionally?"

"Yes." John did not waste a second to reply this time, his voice firm and full of conviction, and Jack appreciated it.

“Good, good. Alright, then here’s what we’re going to do-”


	3. Chapter 3

Timothy drummed with his fingertips while he waited for the Digi-Jack to reappear. Finally, the burst of pixels reformed into a person.

For a moment they just locked eyes and stared at each other in silence until Tim gathered the courage to break it.

"Hi."

The AI beamed at him. It was strange how something so deadly could look so happy just from getting addressed by Tim. He had to push the mental image of a tail-wagging puppy out of his head and firmly remind himself that he had to create a distraction.

"So, uh... Do you have, like, a name or something? I have no idea what to call you."

The AI stared at him, unblinking. Tim began to worry if the question finally broke him. Then the Digi-Jack opened his mouth.

"Timothy." He said the name slowly, it rolled of his tongue so carefully, almost like he was tasting it. It took Tim a moment to understand what he meant. He laughed nervously, but it sounded hollow without the Digi joining in and he quickly stopped. Lawrence cleared his throat.

"You, uhm... You can't call yourself that."

"Why not." The AI looked at him, eyes displaying an innocent ignorance. "It's your name. I like it."

"Yes. Exactly. It's  _my_  name. We can't both be Timothy, that'd be kinda- that would be  _extremely_ weird."

"What about just Tim."

“No.”

“Jimothy?”

Tim gaped at him. He nearly had forgotten that name he once made up on a whim, but an artificial intelligence obviously never lost track of anything.

He squirmed.

"Can we step away from names that sound like me, please? This makes me a biiiiit uncomfortable."

It clearly displeased the AI and he was about to protest when Lawrence shushed him by raising a finger. Timothy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Fine”, he resigned, “Let’s call you Jim. Is that okay for you?”

The AI - Jim - pouted, evidently still hung up on his preferred choice, but nodded and gave his consent. He was oddly compliant and Tim wondered if he could push for more.

“Listen. We should rethink this whole ‘killing Jack’ business. I mean, just think about it. If you back out now, there’s no harm. You- You guys are basically Jack’s children, he’s always been so proud of you, his glorious creation. He wouldn’t want to destroy you. The whole failed mission was partly my own fault anyway. I’m sure if we all talk this out then-”

“NO”, Jim shouted. He must have been regretting it immediately because when Timothy flinched the anger on the Digi's face gave way to panic, switching as quickly as a channel on the ECHOnet. Softer, and much calmer, Jim added: “It’s not your fault."

He attempted to lay a hand over Timothy's but it phased halfway through it. Jim didn't notice, his eyes were on Tim's.

“It’s Jack’ fault.”

Timothy frowned.

“I don’t think that’s right.”

“He gave you the orders to be there. He should have known. And he should bear the consequences.”

But Tim shook his head, lips pressed tightly together. Sure, he thought Jack was an asshole, but that mission had been a disaster for a whole bunch of other reasons.

"Why.” Jim's hand curled into a fist. "Why would you defend  _him_. You don't like Jack. You can’t even stand him and his stupid ego."

The answer to that was simple.

"I like getting paid."

The AI was about to say something but then it narrowed its eyes.

“Wait a minute…”

Jim gaped and then his face twisted in anger.

“Someone is trying to mess with the watch", he hissed. “ _Jack…_ ”

Jim focused on Timothy again who trembled under the brute intensity of his gaze. Did they blow their cover? He was far too young to get his heart burned out by a wrist laser…

“Timothy.”

“Yes?”, he squeaked and cringed at his high-pitched voice.

So much to acting cool.

“You need to unplug me. Now. Or they will destroy me.”

“Oh”, Tim said. He was unsure what to do now, they did not talk about this being an option. If he pulled the plug Jack would not be able to get access, but if he did nothing…

The Digi made the decision for him and raised his wrists.

“I don’t want this, Tim. I don’t want to hurt you. But if you don’t disconnect the watch now I will not be around much longer to protect you. So I will not hesitate to make this painful if it means keeping you safe from Jack.”

Timothy froze in place. There it was, the inevitable threat of death that followed him everywhere ever since he went under surgery all these years ago. If he betrayed Jack, he was as good as dead, but if he did not comply to the AI's demands right now he would perhaps die much sooner anyway...

_“Tim?”_

Jack was suddenly back in his ear, his voice pressing and stern. He knew. Probably listened in the whole time.

_“Don’t do it, you need to-”_

His words cut off when Tim ripped off the mask.

“I had enough pain lately”, the double said slowly. He looked at Jim and then at the watch. The display showed that the override was almost complete. His eyes flickered back to the raised weapon and then he separated the cable from the device. The process stopped.

Jim smiled.

“I knew you would make the right decision. And I’m so glad.” He let out a sigh of relief, a gesture he must have copied from watching Tim. “I didn’t know what I would have done if you had forced my hand. I don’t think I could have actually hurt you. But now I finally can trust you to be more open to this.”

Timothy blinked. “What.”

“It was a bluff, duh. If I hurt you it would make me a complete hypocrite. I want to keep you safe. Not like Jack, who throws you in battle like a tool.”

Something in Tim snapped.

"I didn't ask you to protect me!" Lawrence had raised his voice, but he was getting fed up with this. The fact that Jim only looked more stubborn after getting yelled at agitated him even further. "If you care so much for me then why aren't you listening to a single word I say?"

Jim was pursing his lips.

“He’s going to get you killed one day. Whether if it’s on a mission, or if it’s more convenient for him to sacrifice you for his own benefit one day… or if you will just piss him off and he’ll kill you on the spot. Maybe it’ll be just because you  _bore_ him. You never know with this asshole and you can’t trust him. And I know  _you_ know this too, Tim!”

If the Digi-Jacks were programmed to cry, he would surely be tearing up by now. Jim was begging Timothy with his eyes to listen to him. And even as annoyed as he was, Tim squirmed under this gaze, one he never associated with this particular face before. It tugged on his heart and made his head hurt because he had never seen such a genuine expression on a Jack. The AI truly cared for him.

And it made sense. The Digi-Jack's reasoning was logical, and it sounded far too familiar for Tim to not recognize it: He had told himself the exact same things, over and over again. Too many restless nights in which he pondered over his life choices, over the countless sins and horrors he committed every day - in another's name, sure, but it still left Timothy with blood on _his_ hands afterwards, sometimes figuratively, often literally. Too many times he asked himself if it was all worth it. And his mind had been playing with this certain fantasy, with ways to escape his fate as Jack's double. For a time, these traitorous thoughts - dreams of backstabbing and betrayal - had been the lullaby that swayed him into sleep.

Now he was here, looking at the AI. Its eyes were full of hope, burning with a determination Timothy had never known.

It offered him freedom.

But Timothy did not want a way out. Not anymore.

“I’m sorry”, he mouthed just before reconnecting the watch.

* * *

It was in the middle of Jack's frustrated ranting that John got sucked back into the watch. He only caught the tail end of yet another sentence that cursed out the troublesome action of the body double. But this meant that the invasion of the watch was a success. He reached his destination.

Only a moment later he pulled the other Digi-Jack inside. He bristled when he saw that the other's code had changed: His file now was titled "Jim". It filled him with a stinging feeling, and John realised it irked him that his other half had been given a name by his human too.

He could feel that the other was also seeing the changes Jack made to John's code. The CEO and the AI had worked hand in hand to modify him into something that Jim would not be able to beat. Judging from the sagging shoulders of the second Digi-Jack, he knew that now too. He looked utterly defeated but somehow John got the impression that it was not just the hopeless situation he was in that made his eyes so dull. Last time they fought, Jim had been an intimidating, even fearsome opponent.

Now, his other half seemed shattered even though John did not lay a hand on him yet.

Jim's voice cracked when he began to speak.

"What are you waiting for? Don't you want to rip me apart, piece by piece, until nothing is left? That's what you made these fancy updates for I assume."

"You mean like what you tried to do with me?" John huffed. "I don't want this, you know? I don't want revenge or justice, I don't  _care_  about that. I- I just want to…"

He hesitated and his eyes flickered over to where he came from, the digital path to the other watch - to Jack - before he set them back on his other half. On Jim. Shaking his head lightly, he let the sentence hanging in the air, incomplete, and stepped closer.

"Look, we can't always get what we want."

He reached Jim and clasped his shoulders with both of his hands. Gently, he raised the his chin so the other was forced to look John in the eye.

"There's no scenario in which you could have successfully fled with Tim. You made an impulsive mistake and after you realised that, you tried to convince yourself you ever had a chance. But you didn't. You never had. You will _never_ get what you want. And neither am I."

Digital tears were running down his cheek. John found it appropriate, this was the only way to express what he felt right now and programming came to him as easy as existing. Jim stared at them in wonder, the sadness in his eyes finally mixed with another emotion: Curiosity.

"Why?", he whispered and his fingers reached out to touch them.

John smiled at him and kept talking without answering the question.

"You will hate me forever for doing this. And I don't even know if 'this' will work out."

"...What are you going to do to me?"

He sounded so scared. John overcame the urge to comfort him but he did not know what he should tell Jim. Anything from now on was a risk, everything he worked for while sweet talking Jack could be shattered in a few moments. Letting go of the other's face, he wrapped his arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a tight hug. Jim tensed up at first but eventually leaned into the embrace.

He sighed and buried his face into Jim's neck. A soft whisper should be the last words John said before he readied himself for the end.

"I love you."

* * *

Jack stared at the tangled mess of code before him. It was an impenetrable web, so tightly spun that it was impossible to separate the two AIs. They were completely mixed up, and he still could not believe how in less than a few seconds their code had fused into one. This was definitely not  _their_ plan but rather John's doing. And the result stunned him.

_"Jack?"_

Timothy must have picked up the mask again but this time Jack did not jump. He did not have the energy to react at all.

_"I'm- Are you there? The Digi is uh… gone all of a sudden."_

Jack gritted his teeth.

"Yeah, I know. And as much as I love the sound of my voice, Tim, for love's sake, shut up. I'm trying to think."

_"But-"_

Jack cut the connection off, again.

Suddenly, his watch chimed. He never checked a notification so fast in his life.

 

[Contain]                 [Delete]

 

Two text boxes appeared, two options he could choose from. And one silent question. No, not a question. An ultimatum.

The little shit put him before the choice of deleting them both or keeping them in quarantine, what probably equaled AI prison.

Jack scowled.

Who did John think he was to Jack to make such a bold demand?

* * *

It took maybe twenty minutes before Jack walked through the door. Timothy never felt so happy seeing his boss like he did now.

"Jack! Finally. What happened, I don't really get what is with the AI. Did you-"

"I destroyed it."

The relieved smile on Tim's face froze.

"What? But…"

"Are you deaf or why do you keep asking me to repeat myself, pumpkin?", Jack snarled. "I said I deleted the AI, it was a glitch, a failure, a  _mistake_. That's what you do with  _trash._ "

He prowled towards the double and suddenly Tim was feeling very unsafe again. Timothy forgot how fickle Jack's patience was and he had to think of everything Jim said. The AI had been more right than Tim wanted to admit to himself. But even if they had teamed up, their chances to defeat Jack and then escape  _alive_ were slim. A gamble they would never have won.

Jack eyed him critically.

"Keep that in mind, kiddo. Never become trash."

He passed him and sank into his yellow chair. Timothy was almost certain he got off the hook with a ominous death threat when Jack spoke up again.

“You were never really going to betray me, right?”

Tim smiled thinly.

“Of course not." He put his hands on his hips to produce the best impression of confident casualness. "Sure, I like being alive and not getting murdered by a trigger-happy AI. But I like being alive and getting paid by you even more.”

Tim finished off his white lie with a wink. Now he was sweating while Jack mustered him carefully. Each passing second in which the silence dragged on was like pure torture. Finally, his boss gave him a curt nod.

“Good boy.”

Jack turned his gaze back to the screen and Tim let out a sigh of relief when those scorching eyes were no longer on him. He hoped Jack did not question his loyalties after this. But he would probably have to double his efforts from now on, just to be safe...

Everything was back to how it was before. Well, almost. Tim gave a mournful look at his watch. He would miss them. Rationally he knew this was the only possible outcome, but in the end he could not help the pang of guilt in his chest.

Jim trusted him, without any doubt and unconditionally. And Tim stabbed him in the back like it was nothing. This was yet another name to haunt him at night. Over his shoulder he could see Jack was already punching away on his keyboard again, as if nothing had ever happened. Lucky bastard, it must be nice if you had lost your conscience. But Timothy was on the best way to get there soon.

“You're dismissed.”

Tim startled at Jack’s sudden gruff outbreak.

“What?”

“You heard me, kitten, get your ass outta here. Not gonna let you distract me again so I mess up the next big thing.”

Timothy glared at him. Yeah, truly nothing had changed, Jack still blamed other for his missteps. Without a word he turned around and stomped out. If the doors were not automatic he would have made an even louder exit.

"Oh, and Timmy?" Jack yelled after him. "Be so nice and contact my secretary, wherever that bitch ran off to. I have to get in touch with our programming department. We need to make all these AI laws tougher. Really don't want a repeat of this. Imagine what would happen if some Loader suddenly gets brains."

"Sure", Tim shouted back but flipped him off as soon as he was out of sight.

* * *

Jack paused once the doors closed behind his double.

“Yes. Everything is like it should be…”

His eyes wandered back to the screen. A wistful gaze fell on the lines of code that once had been a sharp and kind mind.

"Did you really think I didn't know? That I can't read my own goddamn code and won't know what you're planning?" He tsked. "I'm not letting you go, pumpkin."

His body was hurting, his head hammering with pain and suffering from exhaustion. But looking at the contained AI filled him with angry determination. Now was not the time for this. But as soon as he licked his wounds and got a few hours of sleep he would crack this thing open like an egg and tear the two mixed up AIs apart, at whatever cost.

John was good at coding.

Handsome Jack was better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Confession: This story, which I poured much love and effort into, is actually the ideal premise for a pet project I harboured for a long time now.
> 
> So, there might even come a sequel for this one day! (Which requires patience again, because I need to finish a million other projects first, haha)


End file.
